Aeroplane construction



Oct. 18, 1932. J'. E. Fos'rER AEROPLANE CONSTRUCTION Filed Jan. 19, 19131 2 Sheets-Sheet l AT RNEY Oct. 18, 1932. J. E. FOSTER AERoPLANE'coNsTRUcTIoN 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 Filed Jan. 19, 1931 Patented oct. 1s, leaz UNITED STATES PATENT' OFFICE TACK E. FOSTER, 0F

mees om, missouri, Assioma or oem-mim' To 'w u.

csoss, or mess crrY, mssolmr.

.AEBDPLANE CONSTBUGTIQN This invention relates to im rovements in eers iene construction end re ers more perticu erly to en, ell. motel pleno construction including both `the wings end fuselage es- This application is e continuetion in psrt et e previous epplicstion `tiled hy me, Seriel No, 486,635, dated ctoher d, 1930.

The novelty in the Wing sssembly lies pril@ rnnrily in the overlepping of e plurality oi corregeted sheets el? verying thicbiess, thev cerrngstions extending transversely' of the. line of dight, lhe thinner sheets overlep -the sheets of thicker metal, Also, the sheets of vsrying thicess ere of veryine lengths so thst the thiniiest sheet extends trom the et the vying to the tips ol" the wine while the underlying sheets of greater thickness entend only so fer tovverd the extremities of the vving es willy produce edeqnete strength end rigidity to the construction es e whole,

The novelty inthe tuselege construction lies principally in the forming of the rihs hy crine ingor corrugeting one leg ci ongle here en attaching to the smooth surfaces of the ongles s stress sheet having corrugetions extending, in the line of Hight end covering the stress or sheet by e, plane surface E@ covering, "Referring to the drawing in Fig, 1 is l sho e top view `oi one hal of e, `wing made eccong to the present invention, Fig, 2 is e sectional view taken along 35 the line 2-2 in Fig.v l,

Fig, 3 is s section taken elong the line 3 3 1n Fig. 2, looking in the direction of the errovvs. Y

Fig. d is e view taken along the line M in Fig. 3, looking in the direction of the arrows,

liig, 5 is e detail of one of theribs before it hes heen crimped,

Fig, 6 is e perspective view` of e. lportion oi @d the iuselege with parte broken sway to disclose the snsteining rihs or heads.

Fig, i is e sectioned view taken through the tnselege et one ot theA ribs.

- Fig. 8 is n detail showing the method of I 5@ tog the ribs for the fluege.

lReferring to the es the es shown in Fi. l to l inclusive, consists et e plurality of corrugated stress sheets designoted as 1, 2, 3, end e, covered hy e, plone suriece sheet 5, The stress sheets ere corre-- e 2 extends from the heee of s point somevvhst short oit the extremities oi the wing, The stress sheet li from the hose ci: the Wing to e point shout inidvvey the length of the Wing or is somevvhet shorter in length then the stress sheet 2, rlhestress sheet d entends to ehont one fourth the length et the Wing end is somevv'het shorter then the stress sheet 3,

leed of using e plnrelity ot overlepping stress sheets, the invention contemplates the- `use ot e single corrugated stress sheet verying in thickness from the losse oi the Wing to the tips ofthe wing. Also the corrugatlons may he straight corrugetions from the hase to the outer extremities of the Wing or the corrugations may be mede tepered so that a lerge corrugation et the base et the wing tapers to a relatively smell end narrow corrugation near the extremities of the g,

The ribs which dene the contour of the wing are preferably formed of ongles 6 such formed angle members 9. To the false spar is pivoted at 10 the ailerons 11.

To assemble the wing, the stress sheets are first overlapped and riveted and the smooth surface covering positioned outside of the corrugated stress sheets and riveted. The ribs are then placed at their proper interval and the lower flanges of the ribs riveted to the stress sheets and outer covering sheet. The stress sheets and covering shect are then brought around the leading ends of the ribs and riveted in place to the upper fianges of the ribs from front to rear. Finally, the false spar is placed in the trailing edge of the wing and riveted or otherwise fastened to the angles 9, which are in turn fastened to the ribs. The trailing edge of the wing beyond the false spar is finished off by riveting thereto flat sheets reinforced by channels. By this y type of construction, there is eliminated the necessity of using a spar which considerably decreases the weight of the wing, and the necessary strength is procured by the overlapping of the corrugated sheets of varying thickness. The false spar in the trailing edge of the wing takes the horizontal shear to which the wing is subjected.

Wing construction of this type may be used either in a full cantilever monoplane Wing of either rectangular or tapered form, or 1S adaptable for use in externally braced monoplane or biplane wings. Where externally braced, the axial loads imposed by struts or wires are taken directly into the monocoque or shell type construction through the reinforced ribs.

This wing construction varies from the dis- 'closure in my previous application in that the stress sheet in the previous application was made up of a plurality of short lengths terminating at each rib. 'By the present construction, the stress sheets extend over a plurality of ribs. By this type of construction, the necessity of riveting each section at the 'joints or ribs is eliminated and only sufficient riveting is required to hold the ribs in position and transfer strain from the stress sheets to the ribs. This reduction in riveting greatly decreases the weight.

To form the fuselage an angle 12 similar to that used for forming the ribs is crimped4 as lshown in Fig. 8. The depth of the corruga- 'tions determines the diameter of the bulkheads as used in the fuselage shown in Fig. 6. Over the outer surface of these circular bulkheads are placed the corrugatedstress sheets 13 which are fastened preferably by riveting to the smoot-h surface leg of the angles which form the bulkheads.

Outside of the corrugated stress sheets is a plane surface covering or skin 14. The details of attaching this covering to the stress sheet and the stress sheet to the circular ribs is more completely disclosed in my previous apvplication, Serial No. 486,635, dated October The first sheet extending to the wing tip gauged .010 The second The third sheet gauged .010H The fourth sheet gauged .010 |The fifth sheet gauged .016 The sixth sheet gauged .020 The seventh sheet gauged .020" The eighth sheet gauged .032

From this it will be noted that sheets of increasing thickness were used, overlapped so that the thinner sheets extended substantially to the wing tip, while some of the shorter sheets which did not extendl to the tip of the wing were of the same gauge and the sheets of thicker gauge constituted the shorter sheetsadjacent the base of the wing where the greatest stresses are encountered. No claimismade to the particularthicknessesbut to the use of variable thicknesses and extending these sheets of variable thickness for different lengths toward the wing tip in order to procure the desired strength.

1n the drawings, it will be noted that the tip of the wing is squared off parallel to the line of flight. r1`he wing tips are finished of by a rounded tip as are the ends of the tail group, including the elevators and the vertical rudder.

1 claim as my invention:

1. An all metal wing construction comprising a stress sheet made up of a lurality of overlapping corrugated sheets o varying thickness or gauges of metal, the thinnest sheet extending from the base to the tips of the wing and the remaining sheets of varying thickness extending only lso far as to give adequate strength and rigidity to the wing structure.

2. An all metal wing, construction comprising a stress sheet made up of a plurality underlying sheet gauged .010

of overlapping sheets corrugated transverse- 3. An all metal wing construction comprising a stress sheet made up of 'a plurality of overlapping sheets corrugated transversely to the line of flight', a plane coverin skin enveloping the corrugated sheets, an ribs positioned at intervals to define the contour of the wing, the corrugated sheets being of varying thicknessses or gauges of metal, the thinnest sheet extending vfrom the base to the tips of the wing and the underlying corrugated sheets of increasing thickness extending only so far toward the tips of the y Wing as to give adequate stren th and rigidity to the Wing structure, an a. false spar attached to the trailing edges of the upper and lower stress sheets.

4. Fuselage construction for aeroplanes comprising a plurality of substantial circular rib members formed by crimping or corrugating one le of angle bars, a corrugated stress sheet attac ed to the smooth side of the an les having .the corrugations extending in the ine of flight, and a smooth surface covering sheet envelopin the corrugated stress sheet.

5.- Fuse age construction for aeroplanes comprising a plurality of substantial circular rib members formed by crimping or corrugating one le of angle bars, a corrugated stress sheet attac ed to the smooth side of the angles hnin the corrugations extending in the line In estimony whereof I aiiix m signature.

l JACK E. OSTER.y 

